


in the smallest of gestures

by Platinumroyal



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 15:16:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15584757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Platinumroyal/pseuds/Platinumroyal
Summary: Yuzuru has been acting weird, and Tori doesn't exactly know what to do about it.There is, of course, the smallest chance that Yuzuru never wants to have anything to do with him ever again--but Tori is going to ignore that for now.Or, at least, he is going to try.





	in the smallest of gestures

The downpour of rain smatters against the window, it is a Tuesday, and Yuzuru has been acting  _weird_.

At least, that's what Tori's been thinking, every day during his eleven-o'-clock music history class where he can space out for a good hour without being caught by Kunugi-sensei (the man is a demon, he swears). His seat is right by the window, in the middle of a row of desks, making it easy to slip out of his attention without seeming like he's slacking off. Picking back up on the lesson is a simple thing, especially considering that Suou heir sits two desks over from him. Tsukasa is the biggest teacher's pet he's ever seen, and he always has his textbook open to the exact page. He also color-codes his notes, Tori has learned from observing him during this dead hour of the day, so it's laughably easy to see what section they're on in case Tori gets lost. It's not his fault that music history is incredibly boring—the idol course curriculum should just be designed better, and be more relevant to what they actually need to know. Maybe if the President could make some changes…

Tori's thoughts have begun to wander even further than he normally would let them, so he reels his line of thinking back in, to the matter at hand: Yuzuru. Yuzuru, Yuzuru, Yuzuru. He needs to figure out what's wrong with him, because Yuzuru has been way too strange as of late. Tori can't exactly put a finger on what's so off-kilter about Yuzuru's behavior; rather, there'd been a series of incidents that built up to form an amalgamation of weirdness.

The first thing that Tori had noticed was that he was completely off during a dance practice  _fine_ had held the week prior. Yuzuru was known within their unit—and to be honest, throughout the school—for his surgical precision in his movements. He carried himself with the utmost care, never missing a step or making a mistake in his choreography once he had swiftly memorized it. Yuzuru made up for his outward lack of passion with flawless accuracy. That Long Hair had criticized Yuzuru for it way back at the beginning of the school year, which felt like years ago at this point. During that dance practice, though, Yuzuru was consistently inconsistent. He would fall behind a beat, only to catch up and skip ahead several steps in the process, and then fall behind again as soon as he realized that the rest of  _fine_ was on a completely different song from what he thought. It was the first time that any of them had seen Yuzuru act like that. No one had known what to say.

The second red flag that had been thrown into his line of sight was that Yuzuru was being late. Late to wake him, late to school (relatively, of course—they were still a half hour early), late to escort him from tennis practice, and late to start their homework. After precision, Yuzuru valued punctuality quite highly, and so Tori had been absolutely baffled when it took Yuzuru an extra fifteen minutes to get the bath started for him the night before. He sat at the edge of his four-poster bed, kicking his feet lightly back and forth, at their normal time. And he waited. And waited. It wasn't until a quarter after nine that Yuzuru burst (again, relatively speaking, Yuzuru bursting into a room was equivalent to a sharp knock and a hurried  _Young Master?_  before being granted permission to enter) straight into his bedroom, looking bewildered and highly embarrassed.

But overall, Yuzuru has just been  _distracted_. There had been a look in his eyes that Tori could only pin down as a lack of focus. It seemed to Tori that Yuzuru had been letting his wandering thoughts take control of his actions, and if that truly is the case, then he needs to do something about it. He wonders if Yuzuru has started to float away from him, fed up with being the eternal servant of a needy brat like him, only finding solace in his daydreams. Tori drums his fingernails lightly on his textbook, his other elbow resting on the desk and hand holding his up his cheek, and glances out into the sheets of rain cascading down in the world just outside his window. There's not much else he can think of, as to why Yuzuru would suddenly space out from the world within the last week and a half. This lack of focus ran deeper—it must be a lack of  _interest,_  Tori reasons. The worst part is, he doesn't think Yuzuru would ever open up and admit it, even if Tori decided to confront him directly about his errant behavior. Tori does not know what settles in his stomach worse: the idea of Yuzuru confirming the deep-seated anxiety Tori has held for the past six months, or the insufferable tension that would come from his denial, both of them knowing the truth but dancing around bringing it to light. He wonders if it is even his right to want to pull Yuzuru back in, to slide that weighty collar back around his neck, to tether him once more to this life of unwilling servitude. Lunch is soon, but Tori doesn't think he wants it.

In fact, now that he thinks about it, Tori realizes that Yuzuru never chased him down during lunch yesterday to try and force him to eat that impossibly bland  _bentou_  that he diligently makes every single morning. No wonder lunch had been so peaceful. Well, aside from Hajime practically having a heart attack over thinking he had accidentally skipped out on a part-time job he had scheduled. It was a mystery how he had managed to surround himself with workaholics.

A sudden tapping on his shoulder jerks him out of his thoughts, and he turns to face his assailant and give whomever it is the best glare he can muster for interrupting his precious thinking time. The boy sitting next to him pales at the face he makes ( _serves him right!_ ), but he jerks his finger in the direction of—oh.  _Oh._

Tsukasa, mister high-and-mighty, master of the  _shouldn't-you-be-paying-attention-you're-supposed-to-be-better-than-this_ look, scrunches up his eyebrows in Tori's direction and purses his lips. To add insult to injury, as if Tori hadn't seen that stupid face of his a million times, he pokes his finger at Tori and then down at his textbook. Tori sticks out his tongue and shoots back a  _mind-your-own-business-you-don't-tell-me-what-to-do_  face, but not before following Tsukasa's finger down only for an instant to check the page the class is on. Tsukasa could go fall off a cliff for all he cared, especially if he thought that he had any right to boss him around, but Kunugi-sensei's scolding was not worth continuing to be defiant in protest to Tsukasa.

"Next… Himemiya."

Kunugi-sensei's voice finally catches his interest, as he hears his own name. Tori stands up, clears his throat in Tsukasa's direction alongside a pointed look, and begins to read.

 

* * *

 

 

The rain is still drenching everything by the time lunch comes, so any students that want to eat at the garden terrace collect at the front entrance to retrieve their umbrellas. Tori has forgotten his, as he didn't know it was supposed to rain when he left that morning, and Yuzuru has been slipping up at seemingly every opportunity, so Tori arrives at the front of the building only to realize that he doesn't have one. He chides himself internally, both for being so reliant on Yuzuru to not even know the day's weather, but also for not resolving this issue with Yuzuru sooner. Things were going to have to change, one way or another.

Luckily, Tori has gotten into the habit of eating with some of the other first years, and had made plans with Hajime the day before to meet for lunch again. Hopefully, with how negligent Yuzuru has been as of late, he can just sneak out with his friend…

"Tori-kun!" a sweet voice calls out from behind him.  _Perfect._

Hajime jogs up to him, bright smile on his face, adorned in a rose-pink raincoat. Only Hajime would go out of his way to wear a raincoat  _and_  use an umbrella, Tori thinks to himself. Hajime plucks a clear plastic umbrella out of the racks and shakes it out.

"Hmm? Tori-kun, did you forget to bring an umbrella with you?" Hajime's face is painted as both perplexed and mildly concerned. "It's getting colder out, so be careful, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Tori huffs as they walk over to the shoe lockers, swapping out their indoor shoes for outdoor ones. "I'll bring one tomorrow. Let's share yours for today."

Normally, they would just use one of the side doors to get out to the garden terrace, but since they're here at the main entrance anyways, it's easier just to loop around outside. Hajime opens his umbrella once they exit the building, still shielded by the overhang over the doors. The umbrella is decorated in little frogs. Tori is not very surprised.

"I, um, share it with my little brother," Hajime laughs, slightly embarrassed. "I walked him to school today, so…"

"It's cute!" Tori dismisses him and huddles himself close to Hajime so that he doesn't get wet. "At least you have one."

Hajime beams at him, and if not for the crack of thunder that reverberates through the air, Tori would have sworn the storm to have been over at that exact moment. His companion jumps at the noise and presses himself closer as they begin to walk.

"So, um, is everything okay? First you bought lunch yesterday, and today you don't have an umbrella," Hajime starts, unsure of how to approach the topic without stepping on a landmine. "If you need to talk, I'm here?"

"Well, it's not  _me_ ," Tori crosses his arms. "It's all Yuzu—"

"Ah! Um!"

They both whip around to see a purple and black blur, muddled by the rain, run up to them.  _Oh, it's that ninja kid_.

"Hi, Sengoku-kun," Ever polite, Hajime scooches inward even more to make room for Shinobu on his right side. They were cramped under the umbrella to begin with, and adding third person is definitely not helping anyone stay dry. "Is something the matter?"

"Ah, thank you for your kindness, Shino-dono!" Shinobu pulls his raincoat's hood further over his head. Tori muses for a moment that he is the odd one out, not having a raincoat, but dismisses it almost immediately. "I—I simply wanted to compliment you, that is all!"

Hajime's cheeks flush pink. Tori grips onto his arm, instinctively.

"Your umbrella, rather!" Shinobu declares. "Well, of course, it is not that you are unworthy of compliments, Shino-dono. But I am quite fond of your umbrella! Specifically, the design! That is all!"

As if on cue, Hajime and Tori both gaze upwards. There is a slight pause.

"Oh, the frogs, you mean!" Hajime looks back at Shinobu, who nods vigorously. "Um, thank you!"

"I will be off, then!" Shinobu takes off from the minimal cover the umbrella provided, doing some weird run that Tori thinks cannot possibly be helping him go faster in any way. Hajime calls out after him, but Shinobu doesn't seem to hear him over the din of the rain. Tori resumes his spot further under the umbrella.

"He's such a weirdo. Was that seriously all he wanted? My arm is  _soaked_."

"Oh, don't say that, Tori-kun! That was very nice of him," Hajime giggles, one hand covering his mouth. "He could have stayed with us, though. I feel bad."

They arrive at the garden terrace shortly, a bit wet but overall not worse for wear. Despite the rain making the trek outside more severe than normal, the space is still filled with mingling students, all trying to fix themselves up with something warm to drink. The line for food doesn't look to be terribly long, thankfully, so the boys find themselves a seat first.

"So, Tori-kun," Hajime picks back up again, setting down his belongings on the table and pulling out his chair. He places down his wallet, pauses for a second, and then decides to pick it back up again and starts to rifle through it. His face scrunches a bit as he runs some simple calculations in his head, and then looks back up at Tori. "What were you saying? Before Sengoku-kun came up to us, I mean."

Tori is busy fixing his hair, dampened by the rain. He fluffs his fingers through the cotton-candy-pink locks, smoothing in certain spots and curling in others. A piece of hair remains twirled through his fingers as he boards his previous train of thought. "Oh! Right. Yuzuru's been acting all weird lately. I don't get it at  _all_."

"Hmm? Um, Fushimi-senpai…right?" Tori nods, continuing to play with his hair. "Well, what's been weird about him?"

"Everything!" Tori exclaims, throwing his hands down onto the table and leaning forward. Hajime startles a little, shirking back. "Every. Single. Thing. He hasn't been paying attention to anything! Today is the second day in a row that he hasn't chased me down to give me his stupid lunch! Can you believe it?!"

Hajime blinks slowly, and then scooches forward in his seat. "That  _is_  weird, now that you mention it. Has he ever missed a day be—"

"No! It's crazy!" he huffs, crossing his arms. "I don't even like those  _bentou_  that he makes, they're way too bland. But it's creeping me out! He's usually all over me— _oh, Young Master, your hair isn't smoothed down enough, what will your teachers think. Oh, Young Master, you mustn't forget your Student Council work, lest you fall behind. Oh, Young Master, please forgo that slice of cake, you must maintain a healthy diet_ —but lately there's been nothing! It took him fifteen minutes last night to remember to start my bath, Hajime. Fif _-teen_. I don't know if he's been replaced by a doppelganger, or he's  _dying_ , or he's just decided to hate me, or  _what_ , but it's seriously weird."

Trying to take all of this in, Hajime exhales and looks up at the ceiling. An adequate response does not come to him right away, so he decides to try and buy some time. "Okay. Tori-kun, why don't we get some food, so that we eat while we talk? You must be hungry, right? Especially if Fushimi-senpai didn't give you anything to eat for lunch."

A long sigh escapes Tori, and a pout forms on his lips. "Not hungry. Oh, but here," he digs into his uniform pocket, drawing out his designer wallet, and tosses it to Hajime. "Get whatever you want. You never eat enough. I don't need you getting all weird on me too, just because you're starving or something."

"Ah!" Hajime fumbles while catching the wallet, but holds onto it for dear life once he's got it safe in his hands. "I—I can't take your money, Tori-kun. Don't worry about me, I'm fine!"

"Hajime."

Hajime frowns, looks away, and wrings his hands. "…Okay. Can you at least come up there with me? I don't want to get in trouble."

"You won't, but fine," he stands up and stretches his arms over his head. "Hmm~. Maybe I'll get something to eat after all. I wonder what cake they have today…?"

"Cake?" the two head up to the line, which is even shorter than when they initially came in. Hajime raises his eyebrows in concern. "Um, shouldn't you get something else for lunch? You have practice later, right?"

"I'm fiiiine," Tori whines. "Look, just because Yuzuru's been out of it doesn't mean you have to replace him. Besides, I need something sweet. The rain's making my head hurt."

Hajime concedes, knowing that Tori is a force to be reckoned with when he wants something. He gazes wistfully at the soup offerings for the day. He doesn't want to waste Tori's money, but… "Can I, um, get a slice too? For dessert. Nii-chan brought us cake after practice last week, so I've been kinda craving it since."

"Of course! You can get a whole cake, if you want!" he grins, eyeing up a delicious-looking slice of strawberry shortcake. "In fact, that's not a bad idea. Hehe, I'll tell Yuzuru I ate a whole cake for lunch. Maybe it'll scare him so much he'll go back to normal!"

A thought suddenly comes to Hajime. "Oh! I was going to ask, you said that Fushimi-senpai has been like this just recently, right? How long ago did this all start?"

When  _did_  this all start? Yuzuru had been perfectly normal up until about… "A week and a half ago? I think?"

A pensive look falls onto Hajime's face, as he looks up to the ceiling. That is a very short amount of time for someone to start acting completely different, out of nowhere. From how Tori is speaking, this wasn't some gradual change, either, that he had just somehow neglected to notice up until this point. There must have been some incident that caused this shift in behavior. But what, Hajime didn't know.

They reach the front of the line. "Um, I'll get a tomato soup…?" he pauses, looks back at Tori, and then shakes his head. Even though Tori said he could, he couldn't bring himself to order the slice of cake after all.

"Two slices of strawberry shortcake!" Tori calls out, and marches right over to the counter to pay for both of their lunches. A sleek black credit card slides out from his wallet, right into the space in between Tori's deft index and middle fingers, as if he had been practicing the swift motion for years. It is the fanciest and most expensive-looking piece of plastic Hajime has ever seen. Their food is served, and they meander back to their table.

The tomato soup is scalding, so Hajime eases a little at a time into his spoon, bringing it up to his face and blowing gently on each spoonful. Tori watches him for a moment, just as Hajime leans back into his chair, a blissful expression on his face. The soup looked to be pretty run-of-the-mill to Tori, but if Hajime was happy with it, he didn't really care. He pokes into a strawberry on top of his slice of cake with his fork, and takes the biggest bite he can.

"So, I was thinking," Hajime begins again, setting his spoon down on the napkin at the side of his bowl. "Didn't the second-years all go on that trip not too long ago? Akehoshi-senpai said that they all went to Kyoto, I believe."

Tori hums through a mouthful of sponge cake and whipped cream. Now that Hajime mentioned it, Yuzuru  _had_  gone on that little trip with his class. It was the first time in quite a while that Yuzuru had not been by his side for more than a few hours, and to be honest, it had been pretty lonely. Yuzuru's presence is a constant in his life, and somehow him being gone had felt like his whole world was gone. Sure, there were plenty of other servants around the house that were eager to answer to his beck and call, but none of them were Yuzuru. And none of them would ever be Yuzuru, either. All of those other people work in his house—they don't live in his home, like Yuzuru does. They are not his home. Even though Yuzuru had only gone to Kyoto for a few days, the twist in his heart had made it seem like he had been away for much longer. But after that, it never really felt like Yuzuru had fully come home to him. Like some part of him had been left behind in Kyoto, perhaps on the streets he had walked with his classmates or in the  _ryoukan_  he had slept in. In fact, Yuzuru had seemed distant since the moment he—

"Hajime!"

His companion nearly jumps out of his seat, once again, but this time almost manages to spill his soup as well.

"You're way too smart! Take this," Tori stabs the second strawberry on his slice of cake and plops it down onto Hajime's. "How did I not think of that?! It's so obvious! He's been acting all weird ever since he came back!"

"I'm…glad I could help?" Hajime laughs, a little awkwardly, and places his hands in his lap. "That doesn't really help you fix things, though."

"Well, at least I have something to go off now!" Tori huffs, setting down his fork and crossing his arms. "Maybe his classmates brainwashed him…? All the second-years are pretty weird, y'know."

"I'm not sure that's it, Tori-kun, but maybe. I can ask Akehoshi-senpai or Ritsu-senpai if they know anything, if you want."

"Nope! You've helped me plenty already, Hajime," Tori slides his phone out of his pocket. They have twenty minutes left of lunch, and Yuzuru still hasn't come to find him. It gave him more time to formulate a plan, at least. "I'm gonna talk to the President after school today. He'll know what to do! He always does."

"I'm sure he will." Hajime smiles warmly. Tori doesn't know what he'd do without him.

 

* * *

 

 

The rest of the day passes quickly. The first-years have a joint voice training class in the afternoon, held in one of the bigger—and more acoustically-friendly—classrooms. Their teacher doesn't mind much where they all stand, so Tori sidles right up to Hajime and ends up with one of the Aoi twins on his other side. The rain doesn't ever stop.

Tori is used to being escorted from place to place, no matter how short the distance. Typically, within five-or-so minutes after school ends, and right before practice begins, Yuzuru arrives at his classroom and waits patiently by the door. At first, Tori had found this to be incredibly annoying. In his eyes, he didn't need Yuzuru to walk with him to their usual practice room, and it was almost embarrassing to be treated like that in front of his classmates. But as the year had gone on, and no one had said anything about his unusual afterschool routine, his discomfort began to subside. Yuzuru picking him up for practice was nothing. They were going to the same place anyways.

As class ends, though, Yuzuru doesn't show. Tori wanders around the classroom for a bit, butting into a conversation that Yuta and Shinobu are having over their pets, and getting into a quick debate with Tsukasa over Tori's attention habits (which Tori obviously wins). Minutes pass, and the residents of 1-B begin to filter out of the classroom and head off to whatever responsibilities they have for the remainder of the day. It is getting a bit late now, Tori realizes as he glances up at the clock, and Yuzuru still hasn't come for him. He picks up his schoolbag, announces his departure to the rest of the students still lingering in the classroom, and sets out to  _fine_ 's practice room. It is oddly quiet.

 _This must be what it's like for all those regular people,_  he supposes, hitching his bag over his right shoulder. Yuzuru usually holds it for him. He always thought it would be freeing to have Yuzuru leave him alone for more than a few seconds. To act like a normal high school student, for once. Well, not like a  _commoner,_  of course—he's certainly above that. And yet, for some reason, a knot settles in his stomach as he parts his way through the tides of students who are milling about the halls. Tori doesn't know if he likes this.

 _fine_ 's practice room, the one they have permanently rented out, is located on the first floor of the school building. It sits across the hall from the infirmary, nestled in a corner room, away from most of the other official practice rooms. This placement serves several purposes: it is out of the way of most other units, so no one typically barges in by mistake; it is bigger than almost all the rentable practice rooms; most importantly, it allows the Tenshouin family a peace of mind over their precious heir's safety, lest an emergency was to happen. The first-year classes are on the second floor, though, so Tori must walk down a flight of stairs and go all the way across the building to get there. He doesn't mind at all, as long as it means that the President is safe.

Tori is never the first one to arrive at the practice room, simply because his place of departure is relatively far away. He inputs the special access code they have set for the room (1462) and swings open the door to find the President himself sitting cross-legged on the floor. Long Hair isn't there yet, but that certainly doesn't bother him one bit. Any time he could spend alone with his Eichi-sama was precious.

"Hello there, my cute Tori," Eichi smiles up at him from his seat on the floor, and pats the space next to him. "Is Yuzuru not with you? How strange."

Tori practically skips over to the spot he's been offered. "Nope! He's been acting all weird lately. I seriously don't know what's gotten into him! He's my slave—he should be actually working for me, and not doing whatever he wants!" He leaves out the part about Yuzuru  _maybe_  wanting to never see him ever again.

"Hmm. He  _was_  out of sorts last time, wasn't he? Well, let's see how he performs today," Eichi reaches out, presses his thin fingers into the crown of Tori's head, and begins to stroke through his hair. "I'm glad to see that you're still full of spirit, though. It must be difficult for you, if Yuzuru truly has been acting strangely. We'll get to the bottom of this somehow, so please don't fret, Tori. It is already enough that we have one of our members out of sync with the rest. We don't need two, certainly. Our  _fine_ needs to be performing at our utmost strength."

Normally, Tori hates being treated like a child, but he will accept any sort of spoiling with glee, as long as it comes from the President. He leans into Eichi's hand, and scooches a little to his right to get closer. The knots in his stomach unravel with every brush of his hair. Eichi chuckles slightly to himself and draws closer as well.

A few moments pass, before Eichi stops his petting. He gently pats the top of Tori's head, signaling that he's finished, and stands up. "Alright, then. Tori, why don't you get changed into your practice clothes, and we'll start warming up while we wait for Yuzuru to join us? We still need to continue our routine from last time, as practice did not go terribly smoothly last week. I would prefer to get started as soon as possible—time is of the essence, after all."

It's a little disappointing that the President stopped petting his hair, but Tori understands the need for practice.  _fine_  is the greatest unit of Yumenosaki, without a doubt, and it is their job to prove it. He follows Eichi's lead, rising from his seat on the floor.

Something silky and silver-blue drapes over his head and covers his eyes, the moment he comes to his full height. It smells faintly of roses. Tori lets out a surprised yelp without even thinking about it, throwing his body away from whatever  _thing_  has descended upon him.

"What is  _wrong_  with this dumb school!" he shrieks, and somehow ends up falling back to the floor. A dove lands atop Tori's head and nestles into his hair. Beside him, Eichi laughs brightly.

"Care to join us as well, my Wataru?" he beams, extending his hand up to the ceiling. "It's no fun simply watching. As much as I would love to practice with my cute Tori all on our own, we are companions, are we not? Or, perhaps, have you mastered the art of resisting the gravitational pull that binds us to this Earth? If that is true, Wataru, then please feel free to dance on the ceiling. As long as you remain in your correct position, of course."

"It's  _you!_   _You're_  what's wrong with this school!" Tori blurts out before Wataru has a chance to speak. "It's  _always_  you, Long Hair!"

"Why, Hime-gimi, how kind of you! It is a magician's greatest wish to leave an impression on his audience ☆" Tori really does not want to look up and even acknowledge Long Hair being there, but he has to eventually. It's just like ripping a band-aid off. The only difference is that Long Hair is neither cute, nor pink, nor Rilakkuma.

"How are you even on the ceiling?! No—don't tell me! I don't wanna know!"  _Had that stupid Long Hair been there the entire time!?_ "Were you spying on the President and me?  _Gross!_  You're so weird!"

"Oh! It is actually fairly simple, once you get the hang of it. Now, I normally would not divulge my secrets to just anyone, but for you, Hime-gimi, I would be delighted to—"

"Listen to me! I literally just said I don't wanna know! I never wanna know!" His life would be, like, twenty times better if Long Hair just left and never came back. Well, the President probably wouldn't be very happy about it, but… "Oh! And don't think I didn't hear you say '☆' out loud! I don't even know how you did that! Can't you just talk like a normal person!?"

Wataru claps his hands together. He is still somehow suspended from the ceiling. "You have just spoken it yourself, Hime-gimi! How wonderful! It seems as if all of our rigorous training has paid off."

"Oh, that's it!"

"Now, now," Eichi rests his hand on Tori's shoulder. It helps, but it is not enough to stop Tori from giving Wataru his best glare. "I'm sure Yuzuru will be here any minute, so let's start getting warmed up. Tori, please go change into your practice clothes, okay?"

Tori huffs, and as he starts walking over to the changing room in the back, the door to the practice room swings open and knocks against the wall. Standing in the doorframe is Yuzuru, looking slightly bedraggled but still outwardly composed.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Hello there, Yuzuru. How kind of you to join us. I'd like to get started fairly soon, so it would be wonderful if you could join Tori in getting changed." As Eichi welcomes their final member, he extends his left hand up to the ceiling once again, and this time Wataru takes it. Wordlessly, he lands back down on the ground, and places a light kiss on Eichi's hand. Eichi smiles warmly back at him.

"Please forgive my tardiness," Yuzuru begins, closing the door behind him and ensuring that it is locked. "It will not happen again. I had gone to retrieve the Young Master from his classroom, but upon my arrival, I found that he had already left," he turns to face Tori, looking slightly confused. "Young Master, did something happen to necessitate your early departure? You never leave without my escort." He pauses, looking up at Tori's head. "Is that a dove in your hair?"

"Ah! I forgot about that thing!" he scrambles to shoo the dove out from its resting place. It perches on Wataru's head. "I had to leave!" Tori exclaims, and goes to open the changing room door. "I would've been late if I sat around and waited for you to come and get me! It's rude to keep the President waiting, you know." And with that, he swings the door open and marches in. Yuzuru follows in shortly after.

Neither of them says much, as they change into their practice clothes. Tori reflexively takes a few quick glances over his shoulder to see if Yuzuru will move to help him change, but it seems like Yuzuru is not paying attention. Well, it's not as if Tori couldn't get dressed on his own. He was just used to having someone do it for him most of the time. He slides into a pair of black sweatpants and a lightweight shirt, and then sits down on one of the plush chairs to change into his sneakers. It is at this point that Yuzuru finally takes notice of him, and hurries over to tie his laces.

"My apologies, Young Master," he says softly, as he works the laces through his nimble fingers. "I know you have difficulty with this."

"I do  _not_." Tori pouts, crossing his arms and leaning back in the chair. Yuzuru isn't wrong, though, as much as he doesn't want to admit it. All of his knots usually untie themselves within an hour. Such is the burden he must carry, after having someone who does all of his menial work for him.

Now that Yuzuru is so close to him, though, Tori can see the bags under his eyes and the way his mouth has naturally worked its way into a concentrated frown. His hair is slightly mussed, particularly in the back, and it doesn't seem like its messiness is just a result of him pulling a new shirt over his head. Tori needs to get to the bottom of this, for both of their sakes, and now seems to be the perfect opportunity.

"Hey, Yuzuru," Tori murmurs. His butler looks up at him, and Tori can truly see how tired he looks.  _Yeah, it's now or never. Hopefully this doesn't ruin everything._  "Is… is there something, like, going on? You have to tell me if there is. Since you're my slave, and all."

Yuzuru pauses, then smiles faintly at him. "Nothing at all, Young Master. Why, is something the matter?"

In lieu of a response, Tori simply places his hand in Yuzuru's hair, before he is able to stand up. He slowly runs his fingers from the back to the front, as if it will somehow coax an answer out of him.

"…Young Master?"

Time has stopped.

"I mean it, Yuzuru," it is as if their other unitmates are not just outside the door, waiting for them. "Please."

Yuzuru looks away. He stares down at the ground, looking for words, but they do not come to him. Not yet. He instead takes Tori's hand from his hair, ever so gently, and rubs his thumb over it.

"Young Master. I truly appreciate your concerns," he meets Tori's eyes, this time. "But I assure you, everything is fine. Please, do not worry over me. Now, let us return to the others, before we are missed. I do not want to delay our practice a moment longer than we must."

Despite the air of sincerity he had hoped to put on, Tori is not convinced by Yuzuru's words. He knew that Yuzuru would try to sweep whatever was bothering him right under the rug. Every time he insisted that his true place in life was to support Tori unconditionally, from the shadows, he had truly believed it. That was the principle he had lived by up until now, and no matter how much Tori tried to dissuade him from it, he would not budge. In Yuzuru's eyes, Tori figured, it was not his place to do so. And yet, paradoxically, every time Tori insisted on Yuzuru finding his own freedom, his wills were ignored.  _What good is a slave that does not listen to his Master?_ Yuzuru had taken Tori's hands in his own, and had tightened his collar himself, even though Tori had held out the key. Because that was what was expected of him. Nothing more, nothing less.

Yuzuru stands back up, letting Tori's hand drift back to his lap. The clock has started to tick once again. "Shall we?"

There is nothing else Tori knows to do at the moment but nod. He stands up as well, and they return to the real world.

 

* * *

 

 

Practice had gotten off the wrong foot, with Tori being frustrated (as he typically is) at Wataru, as well as Yuzuru's late arrival. The problem was, instead of taking the next step with the right foot, it was as if they had continued to stubbornly use the wrong one, hopping up and down in place.

To be quite honest, the three of them were doing fine. In fact, Tori felt like his movements were smoother today, despite the pressure weighing on his mind. It offered him a positive distraction, to lead him away from being hyperaware of every potential misstep or delay. He tended to overthink, and so he generally performs better when his mind wanders. The President is in fantastic shape as well, today, moving as gracefully as ever, showing no signs of obvious fatigue. There is not much Tori wants to say about Long Hair.

Yuzuru, on the other hand, has not managed to recover from whatever had been eating away at his concentration during their previous practice session. He is still making the same mistakes; easy little things that could be fixed within thirty seconds. They find themselves stopping once every few minutes, just to remind Yuzuru of what exactly he should have been doing during the second chorus of the latest song they had been practicing. It gets to a point where Yuzuru accidentally bumps right into Tori that they take a well-needed break. They sit around in a circle. Yuzuru is clearly a bit winded.

"Yuzuru," Eichi starts, breaking the (frankly, kind of awkward) silence. "If there is something you need to speak with us about, now would be the time to do so. You are not acting as yourself. It may seem to be the best course of action to simply keep whatever is bothering you to yourself, but believe me, things will not get any better if you continue to do so. I know this is difficult for you, but you must tell us. We cannot go on like this a moment longer."

"I assure you, there is nothing to be worried over. I apologize for my errors, but I must simply be exhausted, nothing more."

"Alright, then. I think you should head down to the infirmary, and get some rest," Eichi smiles at him, in a way that implies that his words are not meant to be taken as just a suggestion. "If the problem is exhaustion, then letting your body take a break should be enough to cure you, no?"

"I can continue—"

"Trust me, Yuzuru. Take it from someone who spends quite a lot of time at the infirmary. You need to go and lie down. We cannot even begin to function as a whole unit when one of our members is not performing at his peak," as if to cut down any further objections, Eichi tacks one more thing on. "That is an order, Yuzuru. I don't care if I am not your employer—I am your leader, and I am telling you to rest."

Yuzuru glances at Tori, for a fraction of a second, to see what his actual employer has to say on the matter. Tori does not look particularly affronted by Eichi's decision, though, and so Yuzuru sighs and stands up. "I understand. Young Master, please come to the infirmary when it is time for us to return home. I will be off, then."

The door shuts behind him, automatically locking with a soft click. Some of the tension releases from the air along with Yuzuru's departure, but not all of it. Tori lets out a long sigh and throws himself down into Eichi's lap, nuzzling his head into his stomach. Eichi laughs softly and resumes petting Tori's hair.

"What are we gonna do about hiiiiim…" Tori whines. It is muffled as his face is partially pressed against Eichi. "I tried talking to him and it didn't do anything. What if he never goes back to normal?"

"Hush, my cute Tori. I told you we would settle this, didn't I? There is obviously something serious bothering him. Our role is simply to deduce what that is, and try to mitigate it. Yuzuru will be returned to us soon enough," Eichi's fingers feel divine running through his hair. "Now, let's have a bit of a brainstorming session here. What could possibly be impacting our Yuzuru so significantly?"

"It's gotta be something to do with that trip he went on with his class. He's been out of it ever since he came back. Must've been something in the water in Kyoto."

" _Amazing!_  Perhaps he has discovered himself, after taking a trip full of love to a faraway place, bonding with his classmates in the process!" Tori snuggles his face deeper into Eichi's lap. He is not in the mood for this freak today. "Did his mask break in Kyoto, I wonder? Who was the one that caused it to crack? Aah, the possibilities are limitless!"

Tori lifts his head, only to shoot Wataru another glare.

"You both may be onto something," Eichi hums. "Let us assume that the trip caused something to stir within him, and thus has left him in this… state, of his. Even if we do not know exactly what happened there, we may still be able to rectify this whole situation. Yuzuru may try and hide his true feelings from us whenever he possibly can, but he is still human. Obviously, his thoughts are wearing him down, to the point where he cannot discern how much they truly are affecting him. And as a result, it has begun to affect us, in turn."

"It's like," Tori pauses a moment, to put his accumulating thoughts into words. "It's like, he's been so distant from me. Almost like he doesn't wanna be around me, but he doesn't want to admit it. I… I don't think he wants to be my butler anymore," Hot tears well up in Tori's eyes. "I can't even be surprised. I'm always so mean to him… calling him my slave and ordering him around. I'm such a brat. I never tell him how much I care about him, how much I—how much I love him, and now he's like this and he hates me and I don't know what to do!"

"Shhh," Eichi breathes, making his strokes even more delicate. "Yuzuru would never hate you. Believe me, he loves you more than anything. But I think you do have a point, my sweet Tori. Perhaps showing Yuzuru how much he means to us will be enough for him to open up. He always puts himself in the shadows, so maybe it is high time we let him bask in the limelight."

"His birthday's coming up," his voice is shaky from trying to hold himself back from crying outright. "Next week. The eighteenth."

"Beautiful. That sounds like the perfect opportunity to stage some sort of event, just the four of us. See? Everything will be just fine. Now, the real question: what should we plan? What would Yuzuru like?"

There is silence.

Eichi looks down at Tori, whose head still remains in his lap. Tori looks over to Wataru, who is petting one of his doves, in his own lap. Wataru looks at his dove. The dove looks at Eichi.

They come to one shared conclusion:

_No one knows what Yuzuru likes._

"…Not a single one of us, hm?" Eichi chuckles. "How embarrassing. Well, that just goes to show how much Yuzuru likes to keep from us. This will certainly be a learning experience. For all of us. I suppose we do have some time to think, but I believe it would be productive to come up with some sort of plan as to  _how_  we are going to attain that information. Any suggestions, on that front?"

The dove flutters out of Wataru's grip, and lands squarely in the center of their group.

"…Aside from spying on him, perhaps? Though, I am not opposed to it, if we must come to that."

"It would be the most efficient for us to all walk our own paths, would it not?" Wataru says, his dove walking back towards him, seemingly disappointed. "I personally have a plethora of methods I am interested in using. Let us all play our own roles, until we come to understand the man that is Sir Butler!"

"Yeah. Besides, it would be kinda suspicious to all come at him at once. Yuzuru's too smart."

"It's settled, then. We shall operate on our own devices, and reform once we have obtained all that we can." Eichi declares, and it is law.

Tori sincerely hopes that this works. He's not sure what else he can do, in the event that it doesn't. Having the support of the President—and yes, Long Hair as well—is enough to set him somewhat at ease, at least for the moment. Everything would be fine. It had to be.

He raises his head, and looks out the windows lining the farthest wall of the practice room. It is still raining.

**Author's Note:**

> find me @harmonyleaf on twitter! this is the first part of this fic. hopefully i'll finish the remainder soon!
> 
> EDIT: now that it's morning and i'm actually awake, hello!
> 
> this fic is set somewhere between school trip and toyland, but in an alternate universe where school trip happens before halloween. i really wanted to make yuzuru's bday a part of this, so apologies for messing with the canon timeline a smidgen!
> 
> bonus points will be awarded to whomever figures out the meaning to the practice room code. also, where the title of this fic comes from.
> 
> hope you enjoy!!


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